Michelangelo, Italian. Last Judgment, Sistine Chapel, , 1536--41. High Renaissance. -Paul III's first papal commission, for the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel -Michelangelo depicts Christ as the stern judge of the world, a mighty giant, he raises his mighty right arm in a gesture of damnation so broad and universal as to suggest he will destroy all creation -Olympian Pagan depiction, suggests connection High Renaissance artists felt between classicalism and Christianity -The choirs of heaven around him pulse with anxiety and awe -martyrs are depicting, some who endured agonizing deaths (st. bartholomew, who was skinned alive, its face a grotesque self-portrait of Michelangelo
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